Cozine Creek Has a Cost-Efficient Cottage

This home in McMinnville is a 2011 Northwest Energy Star Home of the Year. Showcasing an environmentally-considerate approach to the construction of a custom home, Cellar Ridge built the Cozine Creek Cottage for owner Pat Britton with the design by Matthew O. Daby of m.o.daby design. The cozy cottage has 1,287 square feet and was completed for $139 per square foot with a focus on energy efficiency.

To keep construction costs down, the owner and project team front-loaded the design process to avoid unnecessary change orders and work stoppages. They decided early on to take a design, rather than a product, approach to efficiency.

So Cozine Creek Cottage was designed and built with a double-wall frame and offset 2×4 studs to reduce thermal bridging (see above). The project team found the lumber package for the double wall to be more affordable than a 2×6 wall assembly. Then they insulated the walls with a blown-in blanket of fiberglass to R32 (see below).

Strategies for energy efficiency include sealing all the cracks, seams, and joints; insulating the basement to R38 and the roof cavity to R60; selecting all Energy Star appliances; installing CFL and LED lighting; and using a heat recovery ventilator and an Energy Star water heater.

For heating and cooling, the home has a ductless, mini-split in a ceiling-mounted, central location with a four-way cassette to distribute air throughout the home. This, plus a jumper duct to the master and a cadet heater in the bathroom, handles the entire home.

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3 Comments

This is a perfectly-sized house for my future self as part of a retired couple. And the price is right. Now where is the inexpensive parcel of land to match? Would the builders consider marketing it as a kit for other developers to duplicate? Or would they consider the Seattle area? I don’t know anyone up here who even comes close to those R-values at that sq. ft. price. Kudos!! Such a lovely home!